Telkom SA SOC
reviews and complaints

I have logged complaints every month for the last 7 to 8 months regarding our unstable and extremely slow internet speed. I have now got to the point where, more often than not, I don't bother calling Telkom - you are lucky if your call is answered within the first 45 minutes - time I do not have waiting to have my router port reset (a 2 to 3 minute job).

I am desperate with Telkom. Fault references are given, when following up a few days later I have been told the number does not exist, that the number was given in error as it relates to a fault from two years back, the fault reference number was directed to the wrong department and had to be reissued, and the references were closed unresolved. Amongst these there have been other faults logged too. Faults that are successfully logged are closed as "resolved" without ever being resolved, or only to start up a few days later.Call centre agents have promised to phone back, I am still waiting for the calls 4 months later.

Some agents manage to get my internet speed sorted, however, within minutes of putting the phone down, it reverts back to unbearably slow speeds.

I have a 10MB line, my download speed can be anything from 0.02MB to 4MB. On some lucky days I manage a good speed of 8 to 9MB. According to Telkom's coverage map, we are able to get a 20MB line, which I applied for. All was approved until the technician arrived to complete the installation. I was then told that we were too far from the exchange and it would not be practical to complete the installation.

What more can I do to resolve my speed issues? I work from home, I rely on the internet! My 3G bill is now enormous as the ADSL is unreliable.

Telkom is putrid at resolving issues!

I have spent in excess of 20 hours trying to resolve the problems, dozens of phone calls and purchases of new routers and splitters (suggestions from the Telkom Team) with no resolve in sight.

Telkom has cost me a large amount of wasted time and expenses.

From being a huge supporter of Telkom with multiple contracts, I am now becoming disillusioned. Telkom cannot see a problem through to a final resolve - my mobile account was to be credited 5 months subscription due to Telkom's inaccurate billing - 4 months later I am still waiting for the credit - another reference number "closed" but "unresolved".

Any suggestions on how I can receive the services which I have religiously paid Telkom for, for the past number of decades.

I made an online application for wifi about two months ago. During that time I called several times only to find that thevery application wasn't processed.Eventually it was processed and then came the wait for installation.I took the day off as I received an sms stating Telkom would be coming to install and I was so excited when the contracted worker ranget my bell.His name is Mervyn and he's subcontracted to Telkom, in lenasia south area.He didn't even come in and was busy on calls with his private business .Then he just said the address is wrong.How can that be .He put wifi for the previous owners as well and said that he can't do anything. He's totally useless and should not be allowed to subcontract. To date I haven't heard a word from Telkom!
Reference number : 1280877
Novin Rabidath Ramnaraj
44 Hampton street lenasia south

Please assist !

I made an online application for a Gold iPhone 7 plus 128gb on a 1gb data plan on the 18th of July 2017. A lady by the name of Zanele called me to process the order the same day. On the 25th of July 2017 Telkom debited R839 for a phone I had not received yet. I kept calling and they said they will deliver the phone soon.

On the 11th of August 2017 around 3pm I received the phone only to find out that it's black. I called them on the same day at 3:27pm and spoke to Snenhlanhla who said she escalated the issue and that the correct phone would be delivered on the 14th or 15th of August.

I've been calling almost everyday for assistance but the phone has not been delivered I'm still stuck with the incorrect one. I even went to their store in Middelburg mall Mpumalanga they gave me bad attitude. Please help I've run out of options.

On Tuesday 25 August, I added a new Sim card to a FreeMe Family contract that should be activated the next day. The number was added but was not activated so I went back to the store in Cresta on Saturday 19 August 2017 at 15:00.
After speaking to a lady that was at the technical section (on the right side of the store), she asked me to get a number to speak with someone at the counter for activation. After activation, the person (a lady) at the counter sent me back to the lady at the technical section who confirmed the activation.
However, when I tried to allocate data to the number I couldn’t and asked for help t the technical section. I was told that I cannot allocate data from the freeMe Family account but I need to buy prepaid. I insisted that the new simcard was meant to be linked with the others; so I was asked to get another number and speak to someone at the counter again. So, I did.
Just after 16:00 I was called to the counter number one. I explained my problem to allocate data to the newly activated simcard that should be linked with the FreeMe Family. After giving my ID number, I was told that it is not possible and that I should call the technical support. I insisted that I would like to sort it now out at the store. Then, I was told to come back on Monday. When I was asked for the store manager, I was told that he is not in on Saturday. Then, I asked for the number and contact of the manager to be printed out but they cannot do that. I asked for his name for he did not have a nametag to identify him, but he refused. Finally I took his picture and he got furious and said that I need to delete it or he will destroy my phone. I did not and he went away .
I went to speak to the lady at the technical section that helped me earlier. She told me to give him the number I wanted to allocate data to. So she went to talk to him but he refused to help me and the lady asked someone else to assist me.
I was told that the new added simcard was under a separate contract not linked to the previous contarct. So I asked that it needs to be cancelled as I needed it to be included in the FreeMe Family contract though there could be cancellation fee. When opening our contract, It was actually linked with the existing contract. He looked at where I went wrong in allocation data from my phone. Finally, the allocation of data to the new simcard was possible.
Though my concern was finally addressed, it is unacceptable that one of the person at the counter refuse to assist a client and just make them come back another day without wanting to find out what is the real concern of the client.

Hallo

Please assist.

rg

From: Alicia Abrahams [mailto:Alicia.[protected]@capetown.gov.za] On Behalf Of OmbudsDirect
Sent: 23 August 2017 02:48 PM
To: Horne, Heloise SGCSCCA-DIO/222
Subject: RE: COMPLAINT AGAINST TELKOM RE: Telkom Account no : [protected]

Dear Sir/Madam

Referring to your fax that was received by our office dated 21 August 2017

Kindly note that we strictly deal with council related issues.

Therefore I’ll provide you with the details of telecommunications-this matter is outside our jurisdiction.

Unfortunately we can’t intervene in this regard – also note that the information provided below is entirely of what we have of them.

Tel: [protected]/ 3405
Fax: [protected]
Email: [protected]@icasa.org.za

Kind Regards,

Alicia Abrahams
Office of the City Ombudsman

3rd Floor, Civic Centre
12 Hertzog Boulevard, Cape Town

Tel: [protected]/ 400 9441
Fax: [protected]

Alicia.[protected]@capetown.gov.za

From: Heloise.[protected]@shell.com [mailto:Heloise.[protected]@shell.com]
Sent: 21 August 2017 03:45 PM
To: [protected]@telkom.co.za; OmbudsDirect
Cc: [protected]@iafrica.com.na; [protected]@gmail.com
Subject: COMPLAINT AGAINST TELKOM RE: Telkom Account no : [protected]

Good day

We have now been trying to get a line in for my parents that are not well in Tulbagh.

They do not know how to use a mobile phone.

We have tried 6 months, but absolutely no service.

The worst case is that they installed it at THE WRONG ADDRESS.

No communication was done……

Please Mr Ombudsman, can you assist us. We are worried about our parents. I am in CPT and my sister is in Namibia.

Rg
Heloise

From: Horne, Heloise SGCSCCA-DIO/222
Sent: 21 August 2017 03:41 PM
To: 'Angelique Daames (AC)'
Cc: Adv. Totemeyer ([protected]@iafrica.com.na) ; [protected]@gmail.com
Subject: RE: Telkom Account no : [protected]

Hallo Telkom, anybody home?

Any explanation regarding the installation at the wrong address?

Now 6 months, and no progress?

H.

From: lightshop189 [mailto:[protected]@gmail.com]
Sent: 21 August 2017 01:19 PM
To: Horne, Heloise SGCSCCA-DIO/222
Subject: FW: Telkom Account no : [protected]

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------
From: "Adv. Totemeyer"
Date: 16/08/2017 07:21 (GMT+01:00)
To: Lightshop the
Subject: FW: Telkom Account no : [protected]

From: Telkom Invoice [mailto:[protected]@telkom.co.za]
Sent: 12 August 2017 07:25 PM
To: [protected]@iafrica.com.na
Subject: Telkom Account no : [protected]

Dear MS L TOTEMEYER
For the first time, you are able to choose your DSL or Fibre internet speed and get all your data and Telkom voice calls for free. Telkom has been taking a stand against the high cost of broadband for some time now with mobile packages such as FreeMe and FreeMe Family. Download, upload and stream content without the fear of running out of data with fast, reliable Telkom Unlimited Home.

SmartBroadband Wireless Prepaid - LTE where you need it most!
Our new SmartBroadband Wireless Prepaid plan lets you buy 5GB to 100GB data bundles to use on our fast LTE/LTE-A network, so you never have to stop and count your megs again.
Your latest invoice and statement are attached for your convenience.
Best regards,
Telkom Team

Do you want to apply for any products or services?
Call us on 10213 or send us an email to [protected]@telkom.co.za

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Hi

on the 22 of August 2017, I went to Hyde Park Mall Johannesburg Telkom store to try and port from cell c to Telkom, I spent almost 30min in the store I was assisted by a lady called Sammy. She told me that the sim card was not yet registered on the network and that I should wait 24hrs and come back after that, she had attitude and could not explain to me what was going on and worse was I approached her speaking English but she spoke in her own Mother tongue which I replied in isiZulu to show that I could not understand but she continued regardless. After wasting my lunch time I decided to send an sms to try and port myself only to find hours later a consultant called me to say my sim card has not been ricard and what the lady said to me was false. I went back again on the 22nd and spoke to the same lady who had attitude and seemed to be irritated by me as if she is doing me a favor and continue to speak her language and again I left the shop without being assisted and her attitude was very bad. I thought Telkom had the best service hence I wanted to port but sadly I was wrong.

15 AUGUST 2017 - REF 89ANI150817
TELKOM LG SWITCHBOARD
Ever since the above was installed in March this year, we are having continuous problems with faulty lines, lines cutting off whilst talking to customers, spoke to Dees and Stanley from the technical depot, not yet sorted out. We also are getting complaints of not answering incoming call, whereas the line is not ringing in our switchboard.
Our next step is to inform you that we will be reporting Telkom to the ombudsman as our business is suffering due to bad comms.

I cancelled the Adsl on 19 April 2017 because I switch to mweb. I phone customer care and they told me to sent letter to service cancellations after a month I phoned again and sent letter and cancellation form to [protected]@telkom.co.za still no respond or correction on my account. In July I phoned again customer care a consultant took all the detail again and said in 12 Days my account will be credit and fix. They still charge me for the adsl They cut my line due to outstanding amount which I will pay if my account is corrected. I get no respond from no one I really think it is bad service I mailed Lane again and again she don't even respond to my mails although I get read receipts that she read my mails. I have all my correspondence with her.

I have logged a fault with telkom 28 July 2017 (214CWZ280717)weeks ago but it looks like the whole area i am staying in is without a land line does it take months to repair what is broken or at least let your customers know that there is a general problem people is assuming something is wrong. It is very frustrating with the line not working. I would like telkom to resolve the issue or inform his clients with information as to why the lines is off.

Dear Telkom

We are a ISP & IT company and we have many ADSL customers.

EVERY TIME our customers line is FAULTY, Telkom sends a technician out to first RESET my customers router to factory defaults because they believe it is a problem with the username and password and then try to fix the line. Telkom's technicians then NEVER set the router up again and leave my customer with a fixed line but NO internet connection. We then have to go out to the customer and set up the router again and we cannot charge for this call out because it was a Telkom fault.

Please revise your technician training program to include the set up of a router after they NEEDLESSLY reset it. I just had to help one of the Telkom technicians set up my customers router after the same RESET procedure was followed and he could not get it to work, after asking him if he has set up the VPI & VCI correctly he asked me if this is done at the back of the router. I mean REALLY, this is supposed to be common settings to technicians working with this every day.

Please provide me with your solution to this RIDICULOUS problem.

I have reported this on Hellopeter in June 2017 and only got a ref no that does not help at all.

This is an email I sent on the 03/08/2017

I spoke to Sbongile Malinga today, who informed me she will escalate the mater to sales to assist me. I’m not sure how many months it will take them to assist me but I am appalled by poor the service I’ve been getting so far.

i'm not getting any feedback, no call backs and every time i call i'm being given the run around and i'm loosing my mind having to spend close to an hour on the phone with no help.
………………………………………………………………………………………
Telkom mobile does not respect nor value their clients.
I was promised an upgrade in April after coming to an end of my 24 month contract with Telkom.
which the consultant I spoke to reassured me I wouldn't be debited more then what we had agreed on.
the agreement was only for the benefit of day and night data plus free Telkom to Telkom calls.
he promised to send me confirmation via email and SMS of our telephonic conversation, which he only sent an sms.

I called Telkom after they debited me for 2 different debits which I wasn't aware of, to enquirer and I was informed about a spend limit which I had apparently acceded that I was not informed of when the sales .

I when explained my dissatisfaction to Lerato Mawela from sales, she informed me her manager Lebogang Twane would call me back to assist which was never done
This was on the 1st June 2017
My debit was meant to be R149 but R570 was debited.
Lerato informed me that I can reduce my spending limit which I reduced to R1 as it was the lowest I could reduce it to.
I requested a call recording for the sales call which was not entered .

1 July I was debited yet AGAIN an incorrect amount but this time I was debited R748 plus R129 which lead me to call again and I spoke to Nompumelelo Ntusi I had to repeat my query and she assured me her Manager Bongmusa Sikhakhane would call me back which he never did.
I called again on the 5 July and I spoke to a Manager by the name of Ruffa Vadival who informed me i had to either call or email selldirect for the call recording as they can't get it from their system as selldirect does their marketing.

And this point was informed no other additional debits would go off as the spend limit was permanently removed.

Again on the 1 August 2017 boom!
A debit order of R748 plus R129 was debited.
I called the call centre again and spoke to Pinky hadebe requesting to speak to her manager Tony Venter, who I wasn't able to speak to as he was supposedly on another line.

I have not received any feedback from any of the managers, no call recording and yesterday for the first time I received my invoice because I had to request it which Pinky managed to send me.

Mbali Thabisile Zwane

Since 24 July 2017 I'm having trouble with my internet connection. Every time I have to make a phone call and wait at least half an hour before the busy 10210 operators to attend to my problem.

Every time they have to reset the router. I then have internet for a while, sometimes only 2 hours and then have to call again.
Since 24July I have made 10 calls for the same problem.

I was told that the Aztech router is the problem.
Well, I've had it not! Enough is enough!
I am paying for a service and not getting it.

I visited the TelkomSa store to reset the router and ever since I have to reset the router every two hours.

Surely there must be a problem with these routers as when I visited the store, 8 Aztech routers came in before me and while I was there some more arrived.

PLEASE replace these routers now so that we can have the service that we deserve.

Telkom is loosing business over this problem. While I was in the store there was another customer telling me that their company scooped 10 Telkom customers in one day, due to this problem.

It seems to me TelkomSa is not worried about customers, only about receiving their money.

Hi this is Mr Keth 37 Tapson street Cambridge beast Londo. It has been 53 days now since I applied to fit an dsl line and still not done I'm sick and tired of going to telcom Vincent branch to sort this out. I have phoned a 1000 times and they don't answer the phone at all. I've sent messages and been there numoroiois times. Really this service sucks do you not need business? My no is [protected] I want this sorted out with immediate effect please. Thanks
MR Keth

I am tired of paying for things I know nothing of! Your call centre agents are not much of assistance also as they are rude as hell to their clients!

June I was unable to pay my account due to unforseen circumstances. My account was suspended which is fine .. in July an amount of 1500 was debited from My account for both June and July. Meaning my account was now up to date ! Now when I check my invoice I owe 2155.40 for the month of August?! How is that possible! Can someone who can assist me call me!

25 Aug 2016
Unfriendly Call center agent upgrades my contract without permission

Hi

I was contacted by a call center agent persistenly to upgrade my contract on the 5th of august, i told the agent that i will be waiting for the new galaxy note 7, the agent laughed me off and told me that the note 6 hasn't even been launched.

I told him to do his research, he then told me he will bar my line and then he procedded to upgrade my line.

i didnt think anything if it because my line continued to work as normal. I then learnt yesterday that he procedded to upgrade my line . WITHOUT MY PERMISSION,

Call center agent from CCI and name is dashwin or something like that,

Please can you help.

This level of service is Terrible.

Official private business reply

Hi nawaaz-gani,

Thank you for making contact with us.

Please be assured that this matter has been escalated to our Mobile department and feedback will follow.

Your reference number is AI2558611.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Regards,

Rafeeqah

Telkom Social Media Team

26 Aug 2016, 6:15
a year ago

24 Oct 2016, 17:13
10 months ago
nawaaz-gani:

Hello it's Been 3 months and nothing was done no action has been taken I still can't have a proper upgrade, I want a new phone but nothing no news no help no assistance

16 Aug 2017, 16:25
5 days ago
nawaaz-gani:

Hi its been an entire year and nothing has been done?

Hi, my name is shekar Ramdhani and my tel number is [protected].

My wife works from home and having a stable Internet connection is very important to her job.

Having had Telkom as a service provider since childhood I made the mistake of trusting Telkom to ensure a stable hassle free connection (which is not expecting too much from the service provider). However since we have taken the contract there has been close to 20+ calls to the call of centre due to lost Internet connection. Sometimes at times of conference calls with the higher authorities of my wife's work.

While we had not been given a choice about the aztech router when we took the contract, how is it now that the customer must now bear the brunt of rubbish service being provided by the aztech router?

This is hardly fair seeing that we pay our premiums every month. We spends alot of time calling the call centre to assist with the Internet connection problem. Only to find that the next half hour we have no connection again. It's frustrating and annoying.

Can Telkom please release us from the contract because obviously the problem is going to persist after our many attempts of trying to find a solution with the contact centre.

Hereafter we will be left with no other choice but to contact the ombudsman and turn to media.

Shekar Ramdhani

In 2016 I was experiencing problems with my telkom line and internet. I eventually turned to Mweb to see if there service was better. Instead I ended up in a dispute between Mweb and Telkom throwing it to and fro. The one blaming the other. From being without a line for about a month to having no access to internet as a result of the telkom exchange that was old and could not supply me with the 2MB line I was paying for and the distance to the exchange I was constantly thrown off leaving me paying for a service that I could not use. I eventually bought me out of Mweb contract and cancelled my telkom line. I had managers etc coming to see me and apologizing for the way things where handled. The end result was that I was written up by debt collectors for an amount of R300 odd rand of which I up until now have not received an account. I queried it and still no success. Almost a year later I have still not received an account but am being constantly threatened by the debt collectors that they are going to list me etc... I still don't know why and where they come on this amount as I have not received a final account to date. At first a lady from Telkom called me and I told her to send me the account so I can see for what it is and I also told her when I cancelled the service I wrote a letter with the cancellation to tell them I will not pay as I didn't have a service for about 3 months. Secondly my original cancellation letter was misplaced or no action was taken on the first cancellation. I had to do it a second time round and wait the waiting period out. Once again cant be held responsible for account. I paid more than what they deserved and they should actually refund me for no cerise as they advertise so openly.

Absolutety discussed by incompetent service received from Telkom Mobile.
Signed up for the Feb 2017 deal of the month (5 gigs Data p/m day and 5 gigs night surfer p/m + wifi router for R149 p/m).
Received my router and all was well, until I received my first bill with an extra R500, called "Data spendage limit" which was an extra added to my contract, without my knowledge.
I then queried this and was told it can be reduced to zero but will only take effect the following month so I'd need to pay another R500 end of that following month! I expressed my anger and frustration to the Telkom consultant of not being informed by this upon signing up for this contract and also not receiving any notifications to warn me that I had depleted my first 5 gigs allocated to me monthly. I asked that Telkom please investigate and go back on my recorded conversation with the consultant who helped me to sign up over the phone, nothing ever came from this. Cases were opened from Telkom's side and just closed again! Utterly useless. I was told that no matter what, I'd need to pay it eaither way! I then failed to make my monthly payment because of this unexpected R1000 that was now due on my account so had no Internet for about 4 month's, eventually in August I managed to make the outstanding amount and asked for my account to be activated ASAP. My account was then activated in about 2 weeks and I then checked if it's back up and running again. "Connected, no Internet" This has been the error message I've received ever since those first 2 glorious months of having Internet access. I then contacted Telkom for the 100'th time! Consultant then informed me, after all the calls and queries of having this problem that I can not roam on MTN, it has to roam on Telkom. This is an issue I queried in the 1st month to connect properly where a Telkom consultant told me, I have to roam on MTN for the day date and I have to change the setting to roam on Telkom for night surfer, which is unfortunately a connection we can not get where we live so we've never been able to use the night surfer data. She informed me that I have to go into the nearest branch and check if the router or sim card has a problem. We live 180 kilometres from the nearest Telkom branch, so rushed through today on the 18th of August to Walmer Park's Telkom branch in Port Elizabeth just to be told there is no problem with the sim router and I do indeed need to roam from MTN to access my monthly 5 gigs that's allocated to me! What a waste of time and money. Got home and guess what, same problem! Phoned 1 last time and Telkom consultant informed me that I have no data allocated to me so I am not able to roam on MTN, I have to up my data spendage limit. In order to use my Telkom 5 gigs I need to roam on Telkom, what?! Why take a 100 calls and 6 months to explain this to a very unhappy client who's had endless problems ever since signing up! I'm so upset and feel I have been misinformed from the word go. Telkom has failed me in so many ways and I can not keep quiet about this, I will warm everyone I know of my experience as I don't wish this stress and dissapointment to anyone.

REF:218CNZ030717

Hi there,

I got a call from one of the agents from this department yesterday can you please assist with what is happening see mail below. This mail is about my dead land line for the past 4 weeks and very Bad service.

If my land line do not get sorted out soon I will have to cancel my contract with you guys.

I also have another request I have a TELKOM pole in my yard for the past 25 years can you get your team to come remove it from my yard this is private property.

My contact details is [protected]

Hi, I am a new customer at telkom. I went to telkom shop at fouwars mall
and open a new Cell phone contract (Huawei P10 Lite) then I have submitted all supporting documents required they do all the process there after I have been told that I will get my phone after 2days. before I left the shop, I receive the sms that says my Case has been process. I wait and waited. no call no communication or feedback. after two weeks I went back and ask them they told me that there is system err and they have been handed over to managers to fix this. of then I wait again, after a week I received an sms that says my case has been resolved however I went to the shop and asked them for the next step they keep on saying the same thing. so now I have waited for 3 months now. the service is very poor at telkom and they don't care for customers. I give up.